CVS Caremark awards 21 community health grants

CVS CAREMARK CORP.'s philanthropic arm - CVS Caremark Charitable Trust - has announced the 21recipients of the 'Innovations in Community Health' grants for 2013.  / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/DAVID PAUL MORRIS
CVS CAREMARK CORP.'s philanthropic arm - CVS Caremark Charitable Trust - has announced the 21recipients of the 'Innovations in Community Health' grants for 2013. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/DAVID PAUL MORRIS

WOONSCOKET – In partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers, CVS Caremark Corp.’s CVS Caremark Charitable Trust has announced the 21 recipients of the “Innovations in Community Health” grants.

The grants are part of a $3 million, multi-year initiative to help people across the United States manage and prevent chronic disease. According to a CVS release, the initiative aims to help community health centers increase access to quality health care and produce better health outcomes while reducing costs both for patients and health care systems.

The 21 grants, which total more than $1 million, will support the development of “innovative, community-based programs and initiatives that focus on the treatment and management of chronic illnesses, specifically heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and asthma,” said the release.

Community health centers provide affordable health care services to more than 22 million patients in more than 9,000 locations across the U.S., Tom Van Coverden, president and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers, said in the release, which added that more than half of Americans suffer from one or more chronic diseases each year and that chronic diseases are the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S.

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“Chronic diseases impact everyone, and the number of people living with a chronic disease is expected to increase over the next decade,” Larry Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Caremark, said in a statement. “Community health centers play a critical role in both helping to educate the public on health-related issues and increasing access to high-quality health care services that can help manage and prevent chronic diseases.”

Funding through the “Innovations in Community Health” grant program will support community health centers nationwide, including:

  • ACCESS Community Health Center (New York City)
  • AltaMed Health Services Corp. (Los Angeles)
  • Community Health Center of Cape Cod (Mashpee, Mass.)
  • Dimock Community Health Center (Roxbury, Mass.)
  • Family Care Health Centers (St. Louis)
  • Health Delivery Inc. (Saginaw, Mich.)
  • HealthSource of Ohio (Milford, Ohio)
  • Jordan Valley Community Health Center (Springfield, Mo.)
  • LifeLong Medical Care (Berkeley, Calif.)
  • Maple City Health Care Center (Goshen, Ind.)
  • North Country HealthCare (Flagstaff, Ariz.)
  • Open Door Health Services (Muncie, Ind.)
  • Project H.O.P.E. Inc. (Camden, N.J.)
  • Refuah Health Center (Spring Valley, N.Y.)
  • SouthEast Lancaster Health Services (Lancaster, Pa.)
  • Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation (Sauget, Ill.)
  • Vista Community Clinic (Vista, Calif.)
  • Waimanalo Health Center (Waimanalo, Hawaii)
  • Wesley Health Center (Phoenix)
  • West Hawaii Community Health Center (Kailua Kona, Hawaii)
  • William F. Ryan Community Health Center (New York City)

A CVS Caremark survey, also released with the news of the grants, outlined the public’s misconceptions of understanding chronic diseases. According to the release, the majority of respondents admit they’re not doing enough to prevent chronic diseases. “While changes in our health care system will qualify millions of more people for health coverage, it’s still a challenge for many to find quality care that could help manage – even prevent – many chronic diseases,” said the release.

“Through our partnership with NACHC, we are providing much-needed funding to support affordable community-based health care models that are producing innovative programming in the area of chronic disease management,” Eileen Howard Boone, president of CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, said in a statement.

“The programs will use a variety of methods to help people manage their chronic disease and improve health outcomes – including the use of tele-medicine, nurse practitioners to monitor at-risk patients and wellness circles that bring people together who are living with and working to manage the same chronic disease,” added Boone.

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